According to the licence it does. MS are under no obligation to allow you to reactivate it and for customers outside of the US they pretty much don't.

A full version of XP is reactivateable with a phone call (good luck getting through btw) if you've exceeded the dozen or so alterations to the system that will deactivate it but the OEM has no such requirement, a single mobo change invalidates the licence. If you read the licence you will also find that the OEM copy is non-transferable so anyone other than a hardware seller who gives you a copy is breaking the law even if they give it to you with the original machine it was installed on. Luckily for me I am a hardware seller so when I sell hardware with an OEM copy installed I'm in the clear but even then I've been stung a few times when I've had a mobo failure after installing and basically had to trash the OEM disc as useless.

Otoh a single user Tiger disc can be installed on as many systems as your conscience will allow.

Personally I always operate within the licence agreements which is why I've purchased a 5 system family installation of Tiger.

According to the licence it does. MS are under no obligation to allow you to reactivate it and for customers outside of the US they pretty much don't.

A full version of XP is reactivateable with a phone call (good luck getting through btw) if you've exceeded the dozen or so alterations to the system that will deactivate it but the OEM has no such requirement, a single mobo change invalidates the licence. If you read the licence you will also find that the OEM copy is non-transferable so anyone other than a hardware seller who gives you a copy is breaking the law even if they give it to you with the original machine it was installed on. Luckily for me I am a hardware seller so when I sell hardware with an OEM copy installed I'm in the clear but even then I've been stung a few times when I've had a mobo failure after installing and basically had to trash the OEM disc as useless.

Otoh a single user Tiger disc can be installed on as many systems as your conscience will allow.

Personally I always operate within the licence agreements which is why I've purchased a 5 system family installation of Tiger.

Amen-Moses

Then MS operates very differently outside the US then in. I've never had the phone call take more than five minutes, my experience has been an imidiate connect (never any problems getting through at all) and new key issued right away. I've also never run into the limit you are talking about.

I'll defer to your experience in the matter of European issues though-- I just haven't seen it happening here.

Then MS operates very differently outside the US then in. I've never had the phone call take more than five minutes, my experience has been an imidiate connect (never any problems getting through at all) and new key issued right away. I've also never run into the limit you are talking about.

I'll defer to your experience in the matter of European issues though-- I just haven't seen it happening here.

I've never had a phone call with Win XP, period. I changed everything in my [US domestic] Win Xp PC, save for the hard drive, and I validated online. Took 2 minutes, no complaints.

Jobs is too greedy, IMO. Some of the upgrades are really updates with a few new "widgets" thrown into there to entice. This is the area where Apple falters and Windows excels.

Like Gates and Ballmer are any less greedy. Windows XP is just Windows 2000 with an ugly GUI and a metric ton of new exploits for script kiddies to have fun with. Yeah, Windows really excels. :rolleyes:

Like Gates and Ballmer are any less greedy. Windows XP is just Windows 2000 with an ugly GUI and a metric ton of new exploits for script kiddies to have fun with. Yeah, Windows really excels. :rolleyes:

Speaking about greedy: Where can you get 5 Windows licenses for $199,-?!?

Only Apple has this offer with the family pack, which is great when you have more than one Mac. Even if you only use 2 of those 5 licenses for, let's say, your desktop Mac and your laptop, it's already worth it's money.

With Windows, you'd need to buy 2 licenses, which each costs more than the OS X family pack...do the math.

I've never had a phone call with Win XP, period. I changed everything in my [US domestic] Win Xp PC, save for the hard drive, and I validated online. Took 2 minutes, no complaints.

It's not about what you can or cannot do, you could if you wanted take a single copy of Tiger and install it on a million machines, it's about what the licence allows you to do. The OEM licence states quite clearly the restrictions, maybe MS don't apply them in the US but the deregistration is real and built in to the OS.

you could if you wanted take a single copy of Tiger and install it on a million machines

UK laws/license agreements must be very different than US laws/license agreements when it comes to this, here in the States one copy of OS X that costs $130USD can be installed on only one computer legally.

UK laws/license agreements must be very different than US laws/license agreements when it comes to this, here in the States one copy of OS X that costs $130USD can be installed on only one computer legally.

Nope they are the same, that was my point.

There is nothing stopping you from using Tiger on more than one machione if you don't mind breaking the law and in a similar way there is nothing stopping you using an OEM copy on a new motherboard (if MS allows it) except the license agreement.

The problem is that if you want to compare prices then you have to compare like with like and the OEM copy price should not be compared with the full version of Tiger becasue they are not licenced the same.

In fact seeing as how a full version of Tiger contains all the developer tools what you should be comparing is a full version of XP-Pro + the developer tools with Tiger in which case there is no competition as XP is then a whole order of magnitude more expensive!

The problem is that if you want to compare prices then you have to compare like with like and the OEM copy price should not be compared with the full version of Tiger becasue they are not licenced the same.

True, another thing to consider is the fact that Microsoft offers "Upgrade" versions, which can be found for pretty cheap sometimes.

Assuming you actually abide by the license agreements and you are a single user, there is not really one that is always cheaper, depending on when you buy and how you buy it can go either way. If you bought an OEM version of Windows XP Home when if first came out for $100, installed it on a computer and have used that computer till now it would have cost you total $100, but if you bought a Mac around that time in 2001 with OS X 10.1 on it, then kept it till now but purchased every upgrade you would have spent $260 not including the fact that part of the price of the computer you bought went towards the operating system. There would also be times when Windows XP could be more, if you are the kind of PC user that buys OEM, but insists on building a new computer every year, you could have easily spent $400 on OEM versions since it came out. There is also the possibility that that same user could have also bought a full version for $200 and that would have been all they spent for the last 4 years.

you can compare prices all day, and i could have built a killer windoze box for half the price of my G5. but not having to deal with windows is reason enough to spend more. the same goes for the software.

[obligatory car parallel]
new honda civic will get you from point A to B for a lot less than a new mercedes Benz. which is better? doesnt matter. its your choice and your money.

you can compare prices all day, and i could have built a killer windoze box for half the price of my G5. but not having to deal with windows is reason enough to spend more. the same goes for the software.

[obligatory car parallel]
new honda civic will get you from point A to B for a lot less than a new mercedes Benz. which is better? doesnt matter. its your choice and your money.

There! You have hit it on the head. I'll take the mercedes, actually, I don't really like Mercedes, maybe a BMW instead, lol. No, your exactly right though.